Broadband Optical Properties of Bi(2)Se(3)

Materials with high optical constants are of paramount importance for efficient light manipulation in nanophotonics applications. Recent advances in materials science have revealed that van der Waals (vdW) materials have large optical responses owing to strong in-plane covalent bonding and weak out-of-plane vdW interactions. However, the optical constants of vdW materials depend on numerous factors, e.g., synthesis and transfer method. Here, we demonstrate that in a broad spectral range (290–3300 nm) the refractive index n and the extinction coefficient k of Bi(2)Se(3) are almost independent of synthesis technology, with only a [Formula: see text] 10% difference in n and k between synthesis approaches, unlike other vdW materials, such as MoS(2), which has a [Formula: see text] 60% difference between synthesis approaches. As a practical demonstration, we showed, using the examples of biosensors and therapeutic nanoparticles, that this slight difference in optical constants results in reproducible efficiency in Bi(2)Se(3)-based photonic devices.